I got a free banana roach

B

Betta132

Sixth Instar
Last night, I saw something green and oval-shaped running across my ceiling.

First thought: "well, that looks like a banana roach." 

Second thought: "that can't be right, those live in South America." 

So I get my butterfly net, and I catch it, and it is clearly a banana roach. It's little, bright green, and winged, and it has a white edge all the way around it. It's about 2cm long, and it seems healthy. 

I've looked at all the fruit in the kitchen, and I haven't found any more. I recently bought a pitcher plant online that came from California, but I'm reasonably certain I would have seen a green roach on it while potting it. Do banana roaches ever turn up in Central Texas, or should I keep looking for where it came from? I'm not concerned about an infestation, it's not humid enough here for them to breed well, it's more that I want to catch the rest. 

 
Don't know about Texas, but here in GA near Tennessee I see them occasionally at night in the summer. They're not *supposed* to come up this far, but looks like a few individuals have made it and their colony comes back alive each year. :blink:

I haven't seen more than one at a time, so my chances of starting my own colony aren't real high right now

 
If they're living outside, any idea what sort of habitat they'd be in? Just under fallen leaves, maybe around fruit trees? I want to collect enough for a small colony, they're really pretty roaches. 

 
Wikipedia says, "The adults can often be found in shrubbery, trees, and plants. The young can be found under logs and other debris," so yeah, both trees and leaves & stuff.

One note: they fly really well, so they aren't guaranteed live really close to your house

 
Yeah, they've been introduced to Texas and some of the other southern states, they've been established there for a while. :)

Very nice find, hopefully you can find some more and establish a colony, I'd look for nymphs under boards or rocks on the ground, maybe under leaf litter, and the adults fly to lights, or can sometimes be found in trees among all the leaves.

 
I can confirm they are native to central texas normally around lakes rivers and come to lights at night. I havnt seen them in Austin but friends in Bastrop and other towns are them.

 
Are there any deciduous trees in your area? Nymphs feed on decomposing logs and can often be found cohabiting with bess beetles. 

 
There are deciduous trees around it's interesting because the pines start near Bastrop which is where I hear the bananas live.

 
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